Rick Lagina: “We Found Something BIG In The Garden Shaft Mine”

Really significant orientations and markings, and I’m excited to find out more. You see the Templar cross? Oh yeah, I’m hopeful that we will be able to learn something or at least see some symbols here that could be really important to help us figure out what’s going on on Oak Island.

At the bottom, did you see that rush of water coming down there? No, it’s still coming in. Can you see that?

From the discovery of an interesting drain that could be the link to all the booby traps that have forced many to return home empty-handed, to the discovery of articles that could help the team progress with their treasure hunt, here are the terrifying things that were discovered at Smith’s Cove.

When people talk about visiting Canada, most of them may want to visit cities like Toronto or Ontario. However, these tourists would find that there’s another popular spot in Canada that has attracted people from all over the world for over 200 years. We’re talking about this little island that is located on the south coast of Nova Scotia.

There, you’d find that this island is filled with the promise of adventure and treasure, as it is rumored that there is a hidden treasure of vast fortunes hidden somewhere on the island. For that reason, hundreds, if not thousands, of people have made their way to this mysterious place that we all know as Oak Island.

Unfortunately, although these optimistic treasure hunters made their way to the island in droves, they’d find that their efforts were in vain as they’d all return home empty-handed. Perhaps this is because of the mysterious nature of the treasure and many booby traps on the island that are designed to deter these treasure hunters from coming across this treasure.

If there is some sort of connection here, they need to know it, and we need to know it. If we get lucky, this will tell us, but sure don’t tell that to the Lagina brothers. They and their determined crew are hellbent on using the most modern techniques and equipment to find and follow any clues that they could find so that they could emerge victorious as the ones who finally overcame the treasure hunting challenge of Oak Island.

Well, thanks to their efforts, they have made some interesting discoveries along the way. For example, there is the stone slab with the strange markings on it that they found some time ago. As if that isn’t mysterious enough, they have also found fragments of human bones—interesting yet stomach-turning at the same time.

Well, hopefully, we can capture your imagination with this lead cross that was also discovered some time ago. Holy shim moly! All right, it’s a cross. This lead cross has since been associated with the Knights Templar, the ancient Christian military organization of medieval times.

As fascinating as these discoveries may be, it must still be a source of discouragement for the Lagina brothers and their team when they think about how they still haven’t come across this treasure. Maybe they haven’t found the treasure because, according to legend, there may be a curse on the treasure which says that before the treasure can be discovered by anyone, seven men have to die searching for it.

So far, about six men have met their end as they set off on the treasure hunting challenge of Oak Island. Perhaps until one more person falls, the Lagina brothers and their crew may just have to be satisfied with the ancient relics that they have picked up during their treasure hunting attempt on Oak Island.

Well, curse or no curse, the Lagina brothers and their determined crew of treasure hunters don’t look like they’re going to be quitting on this treasure hunting project anytime soon. This reminds us about a time they performed a huge excavation of the land at Smith’s Cove.

The spirits were high because after spending some time there doing this work, it looked like all their efforts were beginning to pay off in a surprising manner. Just a day ago, the team had succeeded with the attempt to dig up the U-shaped structure found in the area. This was huge because they were able to complete this job so many years after the U-shaped structure was discovered by Dan Blankenship.

In the course of this dig, they seemed to come across a rather fortunate and exciting discovery. How deep are they? So that’s its farthest point of penetration, right where you can see right there. The thing still looks real sturdy though.

This discovery came in the form of a French drain. This French drain is an ancient water system that makes use of several rocks of different sizes so that those who built it could steer the direction of water from one location to another. Truly an ingenious system.

Following the discovery, the team gathered at the site to make sense of what they had just discovered. One of the first things that they noticed about the French drain was that it seemed to be made up of inconsistent materials. This made Marty lament about how frustrating Smith’s Cove has been to the treasure hunters, even in Oak Island standards.

Looking at this structure, it adds to the team’s frustration because the inconsistency of the materials used to build this structure actually makes it difficult for the guys to tell what it may have been used for. The only thing they could do for now was to continue digging at Smith’s Cove. Maybe they could find more answers about the structure as they dig deeper into the ground.

While the team continued with the digging exercises at Smith’s Cove, Alex Lagina, one of the sons of Marty Lagina, as well as Doug Crowell and Paul Troutman, some of the researchers working with the Curse of Oak Island crew, were on a mission of their own. They were headed 10 miles northeast to the town of Chester.

This was because they wanted to take a look at a large collection of documents at a museum there. Maybe they could find some clues that could help them make some progress with their search for the elusive treasure of Oak Island. This is thanks to the fact that they heard that the Chester Municipal Heritage Society may have an extensive Oak Island searcher record that stretches back to more than 200 years ago.

This actually makes us wonder what they could learn from such records and if it would truly lead the team to the treasure of Oak Island at that point in time. However, Alex, Doug, and Paul were hoping to find something that would help the team make some progress with their work at Smith’s Cove.

Soon, the trio came across some records that may be of special interest to them and those back at Smith’s Cove. However, the trio decided that they had to perform a thorough job with this research. Small drains were discovered on the shore due east of the Money Pit.

These drains were each 66 feet long. Thankfully, it wasn’t as voluminous or scattered as some of the research materials that they had received over the years, but that said, they still had a lot of work to do before they could get through the files, images, and documents that they had before them.

Soon, they found a letter written by a Gilbert Hen to a Mr. Harris all the way back in 1936. This letter spoke about finding a wooden structure that had two timbers sticking out of rocks. The letter even came with a diagram showing this wooden structure that also contained Roman numerals on Smith’s Cove. Could this be the same U-shaped structure that was discovered by Dan Blankenship all those years ago before the team came across it just a few days ago?

Understandably, this was a great find. As time went on, the trio continued to make some other remarkable discoveries. For example, Doug found a newspaper article that described the finger drains in Smith’s Cove.

This takes us back to 1850 when some treasure hunters were looking for the source of the water that was flooding the Money Pit. During this bid to prevent the flooding, the Truro company, one of the groups that would make it to the island so that they could search for the treasure, found some finger-like box drains that were about 500 feet east at Smith’s Cove, made of flat stones which were supported by smaller rocks to create an opening.

These five tunnels seemed to come together at some point in the sands of the beach so that they could form one single tunnel after taking the shape of a triangle that headed west towards what is known as the legendary money shaft. As amazing as that may have sounded, it may be nothing compared to the newspaper article discovered by the team a few moments later.

Theories that something indeed happened here long ago, which may or may not change history as we know it. This article was written in the Dartmouth Herald of 1863 and it told those who had the time to read it about the finger drains.

This article stated that the drains were located some feet due east from the Money Pit and that each drain was about 66 feet long. Wonder where they may be now? Upon reading more of the article, the trio realized that they were left with two possibilities when it comes to these mysterious drains. Either the U-shaped structures were built to explore the drains, or that the U-shaped structure was originally built so that they could create the drains.

Interesting, they also learned some more details about the finger drains, which understandably added to their eagerness to return to Smith’s Cove so that they could find these drains once they saw that they had what they wanted. Well, at least for now, they decided that it was time to take their findings back to the team working at Smith’s Cove.

Soon, Alex, Doug, and Paul were able to run into the rest of the team at a pub located on the island. They were eager to relay everything that they had found at the Chester Municipal Heritage Society. Maybe, just maybe, it could help them get closer to the finish line when it comes to this Oak Island treasure hunting challenge.

Soon, they were telling the guys everything that they knew over drinks. They told them about the articles and the finger drains that were 66 feet long and that they converged at the beach. This information proved to be key because, upon hearing the measurements of the drains, Marty revealed that he had measured the U-shaped structure at Smith’s Cove and that it had similar dimensions to what Alex and the others had found at the Chester Municipal Heritage Society.

Could it be that the U-shaped structure was put in place by treasure hunters who hoped that this would bring an end to the flooding problems that they were having? The only other possibility that the team could think of was that the structure may have been older than it looked, and it may be possible that, rather than being built by any treasure hunter looking to prevent a flood, it was built by those that built the original Money Pit during the construction of their flooding system.

They also relayed some other information that they picked up while they were there. This is packed with stones right here and just next to it was, you know, virgin soil. Alex and the others told them about how the tunnels were big enough for a man to pass his hands through them and that they were made up of flat stones that seemed to cross on top of each other. They also met at the top and closed at the bottom, thereby giving it a triangular shape.

This made the team speculate that they could come across them if they continued working. The only thing about it is that they actually had to exist if they were going to be found as such. The team felt that it would make sense to look out for these pipes as they continue with their work on Smith’s Cove.

Looks like they have some work to do. Even if they never find anything on the island, nobody can actually claim that they embarked on a fool’s errand. I mean, come on, look at all the other things that were found on the island.

As the team continued with their excavation of the island, there was no way all these things were put in place for nothing. There was definitely treasure on the island, and they were the ones who were going to find it. Right now, they must focus on what they have before them, and although Al, the technology expert, who was there, still can’t tell them what the U-shaped structure is, they were going to do all that it took to find out.

For now, it was time to get back to work so that they could see what they could find on Smith’s Cove. Looks like the team decided to finish their drinks first, because it was on the next day that the team decided to get back to work.

We start with Craig Tester, who decided to start his day at the site suspected to be the original Money Pit. This was because he had planned to meet Tor Martin, a Euro survey expert who was known for his expertise in gyroscopic technology.